The four teenagers killed in a Buffalo car crash while attempting a TikTok challenge encouraging car theft have been identified — with a young mom among the victims.
Marcus Webster, 19, Swazine Swindle, 17, Kevin Payne, 16, and Ahjanae Harper, 14, were killed when the stolen Kia they were riding in crashed Monday morning, ejecting them and one other passenger, WGRZ reporter Claudine Ewing confirmed Tuesday.
The driver, 16, was treated at the hospital and released, while a fifth passenger, a 14-year-old girl, is listed in good condition at Erie County Medical Center.
In a video shared on Twitter, a local says Harper had recently welcomed a baby girl.
“She was a young mother,” the man remembers. “She definitely spent a lot of time with her daughter.”
Harper was set to celebrate her 15th birthday on Nov. 1. Her family launched a $15,000 GoFundMe in her honor on Tuesday.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters Monday that law enforcement has seen a spike in car thefts since the challenge went viral. Even so, experts remain skeptical that an online dare can inspire random people to commit an illegal act.
“Isolating a specific video that seems detrimental, and assuming that it has a huge impact over people’s behavior, is just unreasonable from an empirical point of view. That’s not how media effects work,” Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo communication department, told WIBV.
“Most people don’t know about these challenges, most people don’t care about these challenges, and even if they watch these videos and find them amusing, it doesn’t mean they’re going to walk out and steal a car.”
The four teenagers killed in a Buffalo car crash while attempting a TikTok challenge encouraging car theft have been identified — with a young mom among the victims.
Marcus Webster, 19, Swazine Swindle, 17, Kevin Payne, 16, and Ahjanae Harper, 14, were killed when the stolen Kia they were riding in crashed Monday morning, ejecting them and one other passenger, WGRZ reporter Claudine Ewing confirmed Tuesday.
The driver, 16, was treated at the hospital and released, while a fifth passenger, a 14-year-old girl, is listed in good condition at Erie County Medical Center.
In a video shared on Twitter, a local says Harper had recently welcomed a baby girl.
“She was a young mother,” the man remembers. “She definitely spent a lot of time with her daughter.”
Harper was set to celebrate her 15th birthday on Nov. 1. Her family launched a $15,000 GoFundMe in her honor on Tuesday.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters Monday that law enforcement has seen a spike in car thefts since the challenge went viral. Even so, experts remain skeptical that an online dare can inspire random people to commit an illegal act.
“Isolating a specific video that seems detrimental, and assuming that it has a huge impact over people’s behavior, is just unreasonable from an empirical point of view. That’s not how media effects work,” Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo communication department, told WIBV.
“Most people don’t know about these challenges, most people don’t care about these challenges, and even if they watch these videos and find them amusing, it doesn’t mean they’re going to walk out and steal a car.”
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